Story highlights

Portuguese giants Benfica see off late rally from Spurs to make last eight

Spanish side Valencia ease past Bulgarian minnows Ludogorets Razgrad

Like a fine Italian wine, it seems Andrea Pirlo just keeps getting better with age.

At 34, Pirlo is most certainly in the twilight of his long and illustrious career, which has seen him snare four Italian league titles, two European Champions League crowns and one World Cup.

But in a tense round of 16 clash with fellow Italians Fiorentina he proved he can still be the difference at the top level after his glorious free kick sent Juventus into the Europa League quarterfinals.

Locked at 1-1 after the first leg in Florence, Pirlo sent a perfectly flighted set piece into the net with less than 20 minutes remaining to seal a 2-1 aggregate victory.

An early goal from Bafetimbi Gomis helped Lyon, from France, to a 5-3 aggregate win over Viktoria Plzen, though the Czech side fought back to win 2-1 on the night.

Dutch side AZ Alkmaar held on in Russia for a 0-0 draw against Anzhi Makhachkala to secure a 1-0 win on aggregate.

A 2-2 draw with Portuguese champions Porto wasn't enough to see Italian side Napoli into the last eight, as they lost 3-2 on aggregate. Goals from Nabil Ghilas and Ricardo Quaresma did the damage for Porto, who won the competition in 2011.

Swiss side FC Basel progressed to the next round despite having Marek Suchy sent off after just eight minutes and going behind to against SV Salzburg in Austria.

But they fought back in the second half and goals from Marco Streller and Gaston Sauro sent them through 2-1 on aggregate.